Soccer-Germany players ruled out showboating against Brazil

SANTO ANDRE, Brazil, July 11 (Reuters) - Germany's players agreed at halftime during their 7-1 World Cup semi-final win over Brazil to refrain from showboating to avoid humiliating the hosts, forward Thomas Mueller said on Friday.

Germany took a 5-0 lead at the break in Tuesday's match in Belo Horizonte and Mueller said the players, not the coaches, decided they would not pile on the agony in the second half.

"With the score the way it was, we said we should avoid being arrogant and to refrain from humiliating the opponent," he said, adding that they urged everyone to avoid fancy passes or trick shots on goal "or any nonsense like that".

"But that's something obvious," he said. "Yes, there was this agreement and it came from the players themselves."